Black Lake Organic Newsletter for June 2010 (click to download)
BLACK LAKEORGANIC NEWSLETTER FOR JUNE 2010
June is a transition month; from spring into summer. Spring? What Spring, you ask.
This past May has to be the coldest and wettest in memory. One day late in May, Olympia set a record May low. On the 31st; it was actually warmer at the North Pole than in Olympia!
Crazy Weather - - Something is definitely wrong with our weather. Almost without exception everyone coming into the BLO Garden Store has complained about the long, drawn-out, cold and rainy conditions which have kept them from getting into their gardens. Never has the complaining been so persistent and universally expressed. People are wondering if sunshine and good weather are ever going to get here. The law of averages says it will, but possibly that law has been repealed. Then again, it’s sunny in New Orleans. How unfortunate we are!
On Back Order - - Let me (GK) assure you, we are doing everything we can on this end. We have had sunshine on order for over a month. It doesn’t help that people will soon start receiving their WINTER Gardening Catalogs from Territorial Seed Company any day now. Nevertheless, that’s the way it is and things must go forward.
Late Note - - As of press time we are getting reports of a large yellow ball in the sky. This may be that back-order on the way.
Coming to a Store Near You - - BLO will soon have Winter Gardening Catalogs on hand and our Winter seed selection in our seed rack. Seriously, as it says in BLO’s Gardening Calendar (which continues to sell briskly) that June and July are the main months to do your sowing for Fall and Winter vegetable crops. P.S.: If you have a Gardening Calendar, you should use it.
Cucurbits are Coming! - - Actually the cucurbits, members of the cucumber and squash family, are here. Our cuke and zuke starts and our squashes and pumpkins are looking really great and they go on sale Saturday, June 5th. Our guarantee is that if you buy these starts ($2.00 in full 4 inch pots) the sun will come out and Summer will commence. But, not until you plant your cucurbits. It is incumbent on you that you do this. Here is the variety listing for our BLO grown cucurbits:
Cucurbit Varieties
Cucumbers: Fountain, Marketmore 97, Green Slam, Alibi, Wautoma
Pumpkins: Jack Be Little, Small Sugar, Cinderella, Howden
Summer Squash: Bennings, Bush Baby, Butterstick, Giambo, Sunburst, Yellow Crookneck
Winter Squash: Bush Delicata, Carnival, Hubbard, Mesa Queen
Zucchini: Black Beauty, Gold Rush
Sow, Sow, Summer? - - Now then, if you are one of those incurably starry-eyed optimists, June is the ideal time to sow seeds of Summer (and Winter) squash, as well as pumpkins and even watermelon seeds. If your May-planted cucumber seeds rotted in the wet, cold ground, time to sow a new round. Get your seeds from our Territorial Seed rack and follow the instructions in Territorial’s Spring Catalog. Remember Spring? It actually runs through June 20th this year. Our calendar says to sow by June 15th, so act fast.
Sign of the Times - - Back in April, I (GK) saw a sign on a City of Olympia garbage truck which read: “Recycle Kitchen Wastes; Save a Landfill”.
Hard to imagine, but the City of Olympia now offers curbside pick-up for compostable kitchen scraps and even has special bins for the purpose. Real gardeners and country bumpkins, however, would never ship their compostables off when they can be used to help fertilize one’s own garden. However, if your “compost” pile just sits there and is little more than a gooey mess, come into BLO and pick up our two Gardening Information Leaflets on how to make quality, extra-fertile compost you can be proud of.
Long Ago, but not far away - - - was it really 30 years ago that Mount Saint Helens blew her top? That was in May of 1980, the same year Black Lake Organic was conceived and started off selling tomato plants and cover crop seeds from my yard and garage. The following year plans were submitted to obtain a permit from Thurston County to build the BLO Garden Store.
Set In Concrete? - - Etched into the southeast corner of the store’s concrete floor is the date January 14, 1983, the day the floor was poured, followed by construction of the building skeleton. It took to 1985 to complete the building interior. Today, plans are afoot for a rebirth of BLO, having come a long way, but seeing prospects of moving to a new level of expansion led off by our BLOOM fertilizers and internet marketing opportunities; things that weren’t even glimpsed 30 years ago.
Only the Best - - There are a number of “Garden Soil Mixes” out there. Based on comments from our customers, brands X, Y and Z are not worth having. Some contain shredded plastic, glass, rocks, clods, jewelry (fake?) and even silverware have been unearthed in some of them. We can not repeat some of the things customers tell us about their experiences with certain of these mixes. In view of these reports, BLO set out to develop a quality garden mix for the discriminating grower. For short, I call it the four-way mix.
Quality Counts - - Our current garden mix contains actual soil, local peat moss, aged dairy manure, and sand, plus a mineral mix devised on the basis of soil tests to balance out the nutrients and pH. Our Garden Soil Mix is now available for delivery or pick up from N. L. Enterprises on OId 99 near Wolf Haven (phone 360-866-9499), where it is made. For pick up (such as in a pick-up truck) you need to make an appointment. Our mix costs twice as much as the competition, but it’s three times better. Don’t buy disappointment.
Lawn Trial - - Matt Moore, our AIM Printing guy (360-352-3180) can’t get over what our Garden Soil Mix has done for his lawn. Matt printed both the 2009 and 2010 Garden Calendars. Matt tells us (and is supposed to bring photographic evidence) that he has three strips of lawn; one is simply untreated and unseeded, a second one has been seeded, and the third has the BLO four-way Garden Soil Mix plus Pro Time lawn seed purchased from BLO. The difference is night and day according to Matt and we can’t get him to stop raving over what our Garden Mix has done for his lawn.
Lawn Testimonial - - Another lawn affectionado had this say: “I followed your directions on the lawn [no doubt using BLOOM No. 4]. Boy, it’s just going gangbusters. The color is wonderful.” It’s the soil!
Strawberry Bonanza - - Following years of meager production, this couple had this to say about our BLOOM No. 8: “Using your strawberry mix we got really good strawberry production. We got 50 quarts from 18 rows (25 feet long) on the first picking. They were all nice big ones. I had to call my nieces and their friends to come pick them because there were so many.” It’s the fertilizer! Beware, you could get this problem.
Hot Flash - - BLO now has Worm Factory worm bins. These however are the new 360 (days) model that includes tools, literature and even an instructional DVD. These improved bins now sell for $108.00
Return Visit - - We just received a call and an order from Milton L. of Iron River, Michigan for 100 pounds of our BLOOM No. 1 fertilizer. Milton says he will divide the order up among 5 friends. Said he: “We really all love it. I’ve got them all hooked on it.”
Did You Know? - - I saw it on T.V., so it must be so. “Snapple, the best stuff on earth; and it just got better.” How nice for us.
Like Hot Cakes - - BLO is selling two new organic products manufactured in southwest Washington, on the coast. They are excellent complementary supplements to our BLOOM Complete Organic Fertilizer mixes. One is the liquid fish concentrate from Pacific Gro and the other is Amazing Organic Fertilizer spikes also from Pacific Gro. These are great local products and we will be adding more as they are developed and become available.
Effective Microbes, or EM-1 for short, is a concoction of three kinds of friendly microbes developed in Japan by Professor Higa and sold locally by Erika Fehr, d.b.a. EM Micro Organic. The EM product has uses in agriculture, household cleaning and pollution clean-up. It is available at BLO in one quart concentrate at $35.00 and pre-diluted one gallons at $8.00.
This newsletter is brought you
in the interest of your gardening success by
Black Lake Organic Nursery and Garden Store
www.blacklakeorganic.com
360-786-0537
Proud recipient in 2007 of
The Washington Department of Ecology
Environmental Excellence Award
For 27 years of building human and
Environmental health - - - from the ground up
6/3/10ih
